New Heights
by Batty Musings
Summary: In which the acrobat has a growth spurt and Artemis Crock is the first person to realize something was different—in more ways than one.


**Summary:** In which the acrobat has a growth spurt and one Artemis Crock was the first person to realize something was different—in more ways than one.

**A/N**: If you haven't guessed it yet, I seriously love this ship.

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**New Heights**

Now, Artemis didn't think herself the most perceptive person necessarily; she knew that there were certain things she just wouldn't and couldn't understand.

Such as why Wally refused to eat corn and chocolate cake in the same sitting unless one was dipped in the other, or how M'gann always knew whenever Superboy was about to blow her top. Well, Artemis was guessing that the Martian's telepathic powers had something to do with the latter, but the point still stood.

She knew she would never be the first person to notice something different with the group, because really, there were others on the team way more observant than her. Kaldur was tuned into the group dynamics like some sort of weird fishy radio channel, Kid Flash's thoughts literally went a mile a minute, M'gann could just read their minds, and Superboy—

Okay well, Artemis could probably figure something out faster than Superboy—he was like, technically a toddler, after all. Still, she was used to having the rest of the team figure things out before her, and in some ways, she'd gotten used to it. Artemis had long ago resigned herself to being one of the less perceptive members of the team.

Which is why it came as such a shock when _she_ was the first person to realize that Dick had grown.

It came in bursts, both the understanding and his sudden growth spurt. Searching her memory, Artemis found that the first time she'd wondered about it was actually during a mission to the Alps.

Mountain climbing had never been her forte, but then again, spending several hours having to listen to Wally complain about why he couldn't just run up the mountain and promise that he'd make sure not to get caught would make the most seasoned trekker want to string themselves up with their own harness.

She'd been cold, tired, and about to rip her own hair out after the first five minutes, but thankfully a distraction had presented itself. To this day, Artemis still swore she'd known that the enemy soldier had been sneaking up behind Kid Flash, and that it was just a coincidence that her arrow passed so close to his head. _Total_ coincidence.

It had hit its not-so-intended target with a satisfying _thunk_, and she curled her lips in victory. She may not have been able to feel her fingers, but damn if she couldn't still shoot with them. Brushing her hair back from where it'd fallen in front of her face—stupid wind—she'd prepared to return to her station as lookout.

Where that sudden slick of ice had come from, Artemis had no idea, but as she found herself slipping and falling backwards off the mountain, she swore she'd listen to Kaldur the next time he insisted on keeping the cables tied at all times. The icy air blasted her face and the wind seemed to howl in her ears, but all that mattered was the relentless instinct to _grab_ something, anything!

Slamming against an outcrop of rock, Artemis scrambled to get a footing as adrenaline pounded in her veins. Just as she felt stable, the notch she'd position her foot in crumbled and she slipped again.

Something burst behind her eyes as her head cracked against a rock, and black spots danced in her vision. Taking advantage of the situation, she fought through the haze in her mind fast enough to grab onto a stone that was jutting off the wall.

It didn't provide the best grip, not with the terrifyingly strong wind that blasted her from the side and sent her swaying. Groaning, Artemis still refused to relinquish her hold again, but it seemed impossible to keep it.

Oh god, she was going to die. Her heart leapt to her throat as she pressed herself closer, terrifying aware of how precarious her position was. After a few seconds, she chanced to look up. Wally was staring back at her, looking as shaken as she felt.

Trying to calm her own heart down, Artemis yelled, "Throw something down, I'll try to grab it!"

"What do you want me to throw down?" he asked, his voice barely audible over the crippling icy wind.

The answer came in the form of white blur, jumping off the cliff. As it leapt from rock to rock, Artemis found herself relaxing as she recognized the acrobatic moves. Releasing a shuddering breath, she said, "Robin."

All at once he was there, crouching on the ledge above her. Grinning, the Boy Wonder replied, "You called?"

Laughing despite herself, Artemis called back, "Just help me up!"

Nodding, Robin knelt down and reached out an arm, motioning for her to grab on. Staring at it in confusion, she asked peevishly, "Don't you have a rope or anything?"

"Nope," he said, popping the p-sound. "Left it up there by accident, figured that you'd rather be saved soon than later."

Sighing, Artemis tried to raise her hand but stopped once she'd slipped a few precious inches down. Digging her hands deeper, she waited until she stopped shaking before she yelled, "Not going to happen, get that rope and get it quick!"

"Artemis, c'mon! By the time I get back, you'll be halfway down the mountain!" Robin cried, his voice sounding a little strained, but she just chalked it up to the blistering winds.

Clenching her eyes shut, Artemis just shook her head and prepared herself. There was no way she could reach him from there without risking her losing her grip, and his arms weren't long enough to reach her by himself. It was a stalemate extraordinaire, one what most likely to end with her as a big green stain at the foot of the mountain.

Pursing her lips to keep from crying out, she waited for Robin to return, assuming his lack of an answer as a signal he'd left. Which meant that Artemis was more than surprised when a hand closed around her hood and hefted her up, but not so surprised that she didn't take the chance to clasp onto his forearm with a death grip.

A laugh burst out of her throat despite herself. "You idiot!"

Scrambling up, she collapsed next to him on the ledge, her heart beating a mile a minute. Artemis gulped and tried to calm her shaking—oh god, she'd almost _died_. There was an all too familiar snickering by her ear, and she turned to find her hand still desperately clutching onto Robin's arm. His lean, lifesaving, longer-reach-than-expected arm.

The seed of an idea started to form in her mind, and even though the rest of the mission went without a hitch—thankfully, she didn't fall off any more cliffs and was able to use that extra adrenaline to knock some extra sense into some soldiers—Artemis couldn't stop her gaze from flickering over to Robin every few minutes.

Something was different.

At first Artemis was on red alert, checking up on him every few hours for weeks afterwards, wondering what was different. Dick, for his part, quickly wised up to the idea that Artemis was now being extra attentive around him, but put it down to her being concerned. He figured he might as well start hanging around her a little more because if Artemis was this dead set on sticking by him, it was in his best interests to accommodate her accordingly.

What followed were some of the most trying days in the team's history. Robin got into enough trouble with just Kid Flash, but when one Artemis Crock was added to the mix, it became practically explosive.

His mischievous grin twisted into something almost diabolical when she was around, and rather than being a voice of reason, Artemis turned into the worst kind of accomplice. One who didn't care what kind of situation he led her into, so long as she could beat someone or something down. She found that keeping an eye on Robin meant that her irritation levels were at least up to neck most days—which coincidentally, was the exact part of him she wanted to wring.

At the same time, heaven help the idiot who tried to get between her and the object of her current attentions. Sure, Robin was an annoyance on most days, but strangely enough, it was all too easy to fall into step with him. He grinned when he looked at her, and she found herself unwittingly doing the same back. Even if he was a troll incarnate, Artemis found herself willing to stand between him and an army or so of trained soldiers, just because.

Still, it didn't lessen nor dissipate the original reason she'd been tailing him, and so soon enough, Robin caught on.

As he caught her near glaring at him one day after he'd managed to reach up to the top shelf for a snack, Dick realized that this may be the sort of thing that needed a little more vocal intervention. Clearing his throat loudly, he arched a brow at how she jumped and turned away guiltily. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

A little too quickly, Artemis shot back, "No, nothing!"

Dick's mind carefully classified her defensive posture as she sat on the table, and with a sigh, he closed the distance between them. Artemis soon found herself sitting beside a boy whose shades failed to hide his sudden intensity his eyes had taken, and she involuntarily leaned away from him.

"Pretty sure it's something," he corrected lightly. "And I think I know what it is."

There was a strange pressure building up in her chest, and it became a little hard to breathe. Robin couldn't really know…could he? Her voice a whole octane higher than she was used to, Artemis managed to force out, "You do?"

"Yea."

Artemis opened her mouth to confess and try to retain some of her dignity, but was quickly rendered speechless by his next words.

"We're not Jade or your mom. None of us are going to leave you, Artemis," said Robin, placing his hand over hers. "I'm not going to leave you, okay?"

Mouth falling open, she was about to launch into a speech about how that was _totally_ wrong in _every_ way and she _didn't_ think that, not in the very _least_, but all that came out was a low whimper that turned into a dry sob as he squeezed her hand and smiled softly.

"You idiot," she scoffed, fully intending to berate him and counter everything he said, but found it hard to do so when her head was buried in the crook of his neck. His arms were around her, and it was testament to how unwound his words his words had left her that she didn't use the chance to measure them.

When Artemis finally pulled away, she discretely wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, something that Dick pretended to be in total ignorance of. There was still a sharp pressure in her chest, but as he linked arms and hopped off the table, it lessened to a dull ache.

Tugging her forward, Robin offered, "How 'bout we go see if there are any missions available. I'm in the mood for some martial arts fighting; you in?"

Martial arts sounded great—the chance to hit someone with her bare fists was something she was sorely in need of after breaking down like that, and Artemis realized that in some way, he'd know that. Laughing a little, she replied, "Great. It sounds great."

He grinned and they were off, but not before Artemis realized that she hadn't looked down when she'd said that. In fact, they were both standing on level ground, and yet she had found herself addressing him directly, eye to eye.

The seed of an idea sprouted further into a burst of awareness, but Artemis just brushed it aside and hurried up. They didn't want to miss any missions, after all.

Despite this, her gaze kept flickering over to him as they walked, taking in the sudden tenseness of his broad shoulders with a critical eye.

Something was different.

She felt that the topic of how Robin had changed had been clarified already, at least to her. It became completely and irrevocably sealed the day he'd become Nightwing, because honestly, who couldn't miss a growth spurt in that outfit?

Not that she was looking, or checking him out, or anything. Nothing like that, absolutely no. Just hilarious, because really, anyone would be able to tell how much broader his shoulders had become, or how much more muscular his arms were, or how his mischievous grin turned just this side of wicked when he tilted his head to the right a little, or, if you're going by the back view that was thankfully provided now that that meddling cape was gone, that—

Artemis honestly felt like it was obvious to everyone around her. And so, it came as a great shock to find that the rest of the team still hadn't realized.

"Okay so, we're all in agreement here, right? My powers are absolutely the most useful."

"I remember refusing to participate in this conversation."

"That's loser speak!"

"That is sanity, Kid Flash. I suggest you find yourself some," Kaldur said, the only hint of his amusement a subtle quirk of his mouth.

Rolling his eyes, the speedster waved the words away. "I have plenty of sanity. And usefulness! Which is the point of this contest. I'm so the best person on this team."

Superboy, who was sitting just a seat away on the bioship, snorted. "And modest too."

"Watch it, Supey. Just 'cause your girlfriend controls the ship doesn't mean you get to be a sore loser!" Kid Flash scolded, leaning back and resting his feet on the controls. Seconds later, said controls proceeded to sink back into the ship and send his feet crashing to the ground.

"Ow!"

M'gann covered her mouth and giggled. "Oops."

Rubbing his now aching feet, Kid Flash grumbled sullenly, "You're all out to get the pretty one, huh?"

"Maybe if you weren't making such wild accusations, you might be better prepared for the mission," Nightwing remarked, smirking.

Spinning around in his chair, Kid Flash addressed his best friend with wide eyes. "What wild accusations? Everyone knows I'm totally the most useful one on this team!"

"I was talking about the pretty comment," Nightwing corrected dryly.

"And you're not the most useful one."

Surprised, everyone's faces turned to Artemis, who had been spending the last hour or so in quiet contemplation. Well, quiet in that she hadn't snapped; contemplation in that she'd been directing her glare out the window instead of on someone.

Now she had her gaze directly fixed on Kid Flash, who looked confused. Scrunching his nose, he asked, "Um, babe, what are you doing here? Are you trying to say you're the most useful?"

Artemis' eyes flickered towards Nightwing for a second before returning to the speedster's. "No, I'm trying to say that Nightwing is."

Even Kaldur's eyebrows rose in shock—it was rare that she would complement anyone, rarer still that it would be Nightwing in something like this.

Put at unease by the sudden attention, Artemis turned her gaze to the ground and started to babble, "Well, sure you're pretty good Wally, but just because you're fast doesn't mean you're excused from rocks and walls and floors and things. If something interrupts your run, you're pretty vulnerable for a minute or two and that's all someone'll need, really. Plus you need to eat a lot to keep it up. Meaning if you're captured, you're _pretty_ useless unless they decide to feed you regular buffet meals.

"Which I doubt," she added with a low chuckle, either oblivious or uncaring about the pout that had appeared on Wally's face.

Motioning to Miss Martian and Superboy, Artemis continued, "M'gann's out if there's a fire, and Conner's out with some Kryptonium. The bad thing about having such strong and prominent superpowers is that, well, anyone who knows what Superman and Martian Manhanter's weaknesses are can use them against you. And trust me, if they're well connected, they'll know."

She said it with such a note of finality that no one dared disagree, as it called back to the same tone she used around Sportsmaster or Cheshire. She then turned to Kaldur, who was smiling and stopped her with a hand. "I am well aware of my own limits, Artemis. If it gets too hot or dry, I would be quite easy to defeat."

Artemis nodded in agreement, and then pointed over to Nightwing, still not looking over at him even as she said, "So Nightwing's pretty much the most useful. He has Batman's training and he's a genius, which sorta means he's prepared for everything, and since he's taller than all of us, he has good reach for basically any attack. It's pretty much impossible to land a good shot on him with those acrobatic moves, and his stealth skills mean that he can probably take anyone down before they even know he's there.

"Even if he is really annoying about them," she breathed, obviously remembering the 'ninja-thing'. "So…yea. Nightwing's probably the best asset on the team."

It was a quiet for a moment, and M'gann seemed to have her eyes trained on Nightwing's reaction, as did Kaldur. Wally and Conner just looked shocked, and even more so when Nightwing finally opened his mouth to say, "And what about you?"

Artemis seemed to snap out of whatever thoughts she'd been mulling around as she finally looked at him, who was staring at her with an alarming amount of intensity. "W-what?"

Articulating slowly, he repeated, "What about you, Artemis? You're just as good as me, if not more."

She seemed to find the idea ridiculous, if the way she laughed was any indication. It sounded like more like a bark due to the suddenly strained atmosphere. Nightwing arched a brow, prompting her to be a little more vocal.

Still chuckling nervously, Artemis acquiesced, "Not really. I mean, I'm not the best person on the team, no way."

"Why not?" Nightwing challenged. "You had just as thorough a training as I did, and you probably learned some really useful moves from Sportsmaster. You're amazing with a bow, but you're also great with practically every other weapon known to man. You're fast, clever, and one of the bravest and most loyal people I know. Add that with your indispensable knowledge of the criminal world, and you, Artemis, would probably be better off than me in most situations."

Each word seemed to slam into her like a bullet, which was about as fast as he ticked them off. It was quite plain to everyone that Nightwing had apparently had this speech planned for a while, but the realization came slow to the one person it mattered to most.

When it finally hit, Artemis' eyes were wide with a mixture of disbelief and confusion, but one emotion was shining through the cloudy haze, even if it was clear only to one person who mattered most. It was gone just as soon as she ducked her head and snorted, making sure not to face him when she replied, "That's…wow. I didn't know—"

"I've always," Nightwing cut in. "known you were the most useful person on the team, even if you didn't. And you said it yourself, I'm a genius."

His hard look turned soft as he smiled. "So don't question me on this, alright 'Mis?"

Artemis started to laugh, finally lifting her head up. She was smiling back, practically beaming as she laughed. It was the happiest the team had ever seen her, or at least, one of the times. They'd never done an exact calculation of it, but most were now under the impression that if they graphed all times Artemis had ever looked like that, they'd find that a direct correlation with a certain hero's proximity.

Still grinning fiercely, she said fondly, "You idiot."

Frowning in some over the top way, Nightwing replied, "Now that was uncalled for."

Artemis rolled her eyes and accused, "I try to do something nice and prove something about you and you just turn it all around on me. Totally called for."

He sighed dramatically. "Whatever you say. You are the best asset of the team, after all."

She flushed a deep red and choked out, "You're not going to start saying that all the time now, are you?"

Nightwing looked thoughtful. Tapping a finger against his cheek, he murmured, "Now there's an idea…"

Growling, Artemis spun back in her chair to face the controls, pointedly ignoring the smug acrobat sitting across from her. The tense air around the team seemed to dissipate in seconds, as everything seemed like it was back to normal. Artemis was perched on the chair with her feathers all ruffled up, and Nightwing was grinning like the cat that ate the canary. All was right with the world.

"Wait, wait, _wait_ a second here."

All eyes turned to Kid Flash, who had his finger pointed at Nightwing. "You're taller than me? I call bogus, stand up!"

Artemis groaned as she found herself forced to watch the testosterone induced posturing of two so called _best friends_. You wouldn't think as much if you saw Wally swearing to high heaven that the former boy wonder was hiding lifts in his shoes after finding himself falling short for the fifth measuring, and Nightwing responding in kind that the speedster stop trying to charm M'gann to discretely raise the floor under his feet.

She caught his gaze only once, and she took the time to scoff at his immaturity. He grinned boyishly back at her and mouthed 'useful', forcing her to turn away or risk creating an entirely new shade of red with her blush.

After Nightwing turned away, Artemis' gaze flickered back to rest on his profile, noting that he'd grown another inch or so. An odd tingle rose from her chest at the thought, but she didn't turn away, too busy taking him in to care.

Something was different.

But it was also better.


End file.
